Friday, June 16, 2006

Are Apple Macs ready for prime time?

Are Apple Macs ready for prime time? Since Apple launched Intel based computers staerting February this year there has been a continuous run of new Macs announced. First the MacBook Pro, then the new iMac and finally the MacBook.

All have had glowing reviues and all are now being pushed nationally in the US through Apple's hot new advertising. But perhaps the biggest coup of all is has been the speed at which software has been produced to enable Mac users to run Windows as well.

Apple launched a software download called Bootcamp that allows you to boot up Windows on a Mac, but now comes software from a startup called Parallels.

While Boot Camp is essentially a tool for letting a Mac run either Windows or the Mac OS, Parallels makes both operating systems available at the same time. To do this, Windows runs as what is known as a virtual machine - essentially acting as if it was a separate PC.

So you can now run Windows apps at the same time as running Apple apps. This is potentially a huge leap forwards and one that could see Apple computer sales leap forwards.

Research has shown that in the US, some 8% of home PC owners would switch to a Mac if it could run Windows. An increase of this magnitude would almost triple Apple's share in the home market and could increase it 75% worldwide.